Monday, November 30, 2015

Mankind has been able to probe the furthest depths of space,
reaching back in time almost to the Big Bang. Mankind has shone a light into the
very structure of life itself, mapping the DNA of the human genome. Science
has made possible vast advances in computer and information technology,
creating the conditions for the exchange of information on a global scale
virtually instantaneously. Mankind is able to do all this and much more, but it
cannot subject its own economic and social organisation to conscious control
and regulation in order to meet human need. The rational democratic control and
planning of the economy, ending the domination of the blind workings of the
market, is beyond our scope. Mankind is now threatened by the outcome of its own
economic activity, over which it has no control. This capitalist system has
become the greatest danger to the continuation of human civilisation. Mankind’s
productive activity must be carried out, not independent of, but in accordance
with, the laws of nature.

Empty words of politicians and the impotence of the
capitalist system will be the predictable outcome of the Paris COP21 climate
change talks. The leaders of the wasteful profit-driven capitalist system will
discuss and debate global warming and carbon emissions but in the end, despite
the media gloss put on it, they will fail to agree upon any
meaningful measures. Humanity faces a huge problem and a real dilemma.
Meaningful action would require fundamental changes in the way the economy and
society works involving the need for root-and-branch re-organisation which goes
to the heart of the capitalist system. Unfortunately,
most environment activists cannot see beyond the capitalist system and so are bound
by its rules. Campaigns aimed at pressuring the various capitalist governments
into action are doomed to disappointment. The struggle to halt global warming
is the fight to replace capitalism with world socialism, human solidarity and
respect for the planet on which we live.

By its very name, global warming is a worldwide problem and
no national solution is possible. The nation-state system gives rise to
conflicts between the major capitalist powers for markets, profits and
resources. The response of every sovereign government is to protect its own
economy and financial system above all else and they will displace the costs of
climate change onto its rivals, minimise its own costs while attempting to secure
the maximum benefits from any carbon emissions trading system that may be
established. Humanity shares a common fate which necessitates new forms of
global co-operation – world socialism. Overcoming the threat to civilisation
posed by global warming is inseparably bound up with the struggle for a socialist
world. The dictates of profit must be overthrown.

Socialists are confronted by the argument of those who say
they agree with our analysis of the necessity for socialism, but insist
that this will take too long and something has to be done “right now”.
Socialism may be all well and good, as a general aim, but the fight for a
socialist perspective cannot deal with problems, such as climate change, that
have to tackled immediately, is the logic. Such arguments are generally
advanced under the banner of “realism” and, in fact, they constitute the most
unrealistic perspective of all. It is most unrealistic to believe that somehow,
some way, if only enough pressure is applied, the capitalist system can be
reformed in such a way as to provide a future for the next generation and all
the generations to come. The Paris summit will no doubt declare that climate
change represents a great threat and that it is the most important issue to
address so something must be done, something so serious that the time-table of
action will have to be put off for some other later date. Capitalism will procrastinate and postpone until we have no planet to protect.

Thousands of people with cancer will feel “cold and lonely”
this Christmas because they do not have enough money to celebrate or heat their
homes, a charity has said. Almost 170,000 people in the UK with cancer are
unable to join in special family events such as Christmas due to a lack of
cash, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Macmillan said the government must rethink its plan on
welfare, which it said would take £30 a week away from people with cancer who
are too ill to work.

Lynda Thomas, chief executive of the charity, said: “It’s
heartbreaking that people who are going through cancer, which is likely to be
one of the most difficult times of their life, are also having to wake up on
Christmas Day in the cold, alone, without being able to have Christmas dinner
or buy presents for their loved ones. Having cancer is an isolating time and
being cut off financially because of a diagnosis makes life even harder. People
with cancer can lose hundreds of pounds each month because of their diagnosis. It
is incomprehensible that the government is pressing ahead with proposals to cut
the benefits of people with cancer who have been medically assessed as unable
to work by around £30 a week. This will make life even more difficult for this
vulnerable group of people with cancer.”

Macmillan Cancer Support, which carried out the analysis
jointly with Public Health England’s Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), says
that with four in five patients facing an average cost of £570 a month as a
result of their disease, the findings are extremely worrying. Lynda Thomas,
said: “We know that a cancer diagnosis can often be financially crippling, even
more so for those who are already dealing with the highest levels of
deprivation. Just as people are often left with the long-term consequences of
treatment, so cancer can have a serious lasting impact on finances. More needs
to be done to mitigate this as far as possible.”

About 200,000 people with cancer are living in the most
deprived areas of England, leaving them vulnerable to the financial burden of
the disease, a study has found. People with either lung, liver or cervical
cancer are almost three times more likely to live in the most deprived areas
than those with skin cancer, the researcher found. Residents of such areas are
more likely to be unemployed or on income support. Increased costs faced by
cancer patients can include higher heating bills, as they feel colder and spend
more time at home, new clothes because of weight fluctuations, abdominal
swelling or a colostomy bag or special bras if they have had a mastectomy and
travel costs to and from hospitals. Macmillan said the figures highlight the
folly of the government’s plans to reduce the amount received by people
entering the employment support allowance (ESA) work-related activity group –
for people assessed as too ill to work but capable of taking steps towards
employment – by about £30 a week. More than 30,000 people with cancer rely on
charity to heat their homes or buy essential items such as bedding or clothing,
and some risk losing out further under the government’s benefit changes

Claims during war are understandably difficult to confirm
when all involved are actively spreading disinformation and propaganda. Therefore,
we should take a skeptic’s approach to what politicians claim. Certainly, according to war correspondent Robert Fisk, we should give no credence to
Cameron’s assertion that there are 70,000 moderate rebels in Syria, explaining as Fisk does “If
this ghost army existed, it would already have captured Damascus and hurled
Bashar al-Assad from power.”

The war words between Russia and Turkey about Turkey’s tacit
support for ISIS is also shrouded in hard-to-verify allegations but in 2014,
long before the shooting down of the Russian jet, an American university presented a paper about Turkey’s relationship with ISIS. Let us not overlook that this is one of the nations Cameron wishes us to co-operate with, along with the extremist Wahaabi extremists of head-chopping Saudi Arabia who too are accused of financing and supplying ISIS.

Allegations

Turkey Provides
Military Equipment to ISIS

• An ISIS
commander told The Washington Post on August 12, 2014: "Most of the
fighters who joined us in the beginning of the war came via Turkey, and so did
our equipment and supplies."

• Kemal
Kiliçdaroglu, head of the Republican People's Party (CHP), produced a statement
from the Adana Office of the Prosecutor on October 14, 2014 maintaining that
Turkey supplied weapons to terror groups. He also produced interview
transcripts from truck drivers who delivered weapons to the groups. According
to Kiliçdaroglu, the Turkish government claims the trucks were for humanitarian
aid to the Turkmen, but the Turkmen said no humanitarian aid was delivered.

• According
to CHP Vice President Bulent Tezcan, three trucks were stopped in Adana for
inspection on January 19, 2014. The trucks were loaded with weapons in Esenboga
Airport in Ankara. The drivers drove the trucks to the border, where a MIT
agent was supposed to take over and drive the trucks to Syria to deliver
materials to ISIS and groups in Syria. This happened many times. When the
trucks were stopped, MIT agents tried to keep the inspectors from looking
inside the crates. The inspectors found rockets, arms, and ammunitions.

• Cumhuriyet
reports that Fuat Avni, a preeminent Twitter user who reported on the December
17th corruption probe, that audio tapes confirm that Turkey provided financial
and military aid to terrorist groups associated with Al Qaeda on October 12,
2014. On the tapes, Erdogan pressured the Turkish Armed Forces to go to war
with Syria. Erdogan demanded that Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National
Intelligence Agency (MIT), come up with a justification for attacking Syria.

• Documents
surfaced on September 19th, 2014 showing that the Saudi Emir Bender Bin Sultan
financed the transportation of arms to ISIS through Turkey. A flight leaving
Germany dropped off arms in the Etimesgut airport in Turkey, which was then
split into three containers, two of which were given to ISIS and one to Gaza.

Turkey Provided
Transport and Logistical Assistance to ISIS Fighters

• According
to Radikal on June 13, 2014, Interior Minister Muammar Guler signed a
directive: "According to our regional gains, we will help al-Nusra
militants against the branch of PKK terrorist organization, the PYD, within our
borders...Hatay is a strategic location for the mujahideen crossing from within
our borders to Syria. Logistical support for Islamist groups will be increased,
and their training, hospital care, and safe passage will mostly take place in
Hatay...MIT and the Religious Affairs Directorate will coordinate the placement
of fighters in public accommodations."

• The Daily
Mail reported on August 25, 2014 that many foreign militants joined ISIS in
Syria and Iraq after traveling through Turkey, but Turkey did not try to stop
them. This article describes how foreign militants, especially from the UK, go
to Syria and Iraq through the Turkish border. They call the border the
"Gateway to Jihad." Turkish army soldiers either turn a blind eye and
let them pass, or the jihadists pay the border guards as little as $10 to
facilitate their crossing.

• Britain's
Sky News obtained documents showing that the Turkish government has stamped
passports of foreign militants seeking to cross the Turkey border into Syria to
join ISIS.

• The BBC
interviewed villagers, who claim that buses travel at night, carrying jihadists
to fight Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, not the Syrian Armed Forces.

• A senior
Egyptian official indicated on October 9, 2014 that Turkish intelligence is
passing satellite imagery and other data to ISIS.

Turkey Provided
Training to ISIS Fighters

• CNN Turk
reported on July 29, 2014 that in the heart of Istanbul, places like Duzce and
Adapazari, have become gathering spots for terrorists. There are religious
orders where ISIS militants are trained. Some of these training videos are
posted on the Turkish ISIS propaganda website takvahaber.net. According to CNN
Turk, Turkish security forces could have stopped these developments if they had
wanted to.

• Turks who
joined an affiliate of ISIS were recorded at a public gathering in Istanbul,
which took place on July 28, 2014.

• A video
shows an ISIS affiliate holding a prayer/gathering in Omerli, a district of
Istanbul. In response to the video, CHP Vice President, MP Tanrikulu submitted
parliamentary questions to the Minister of the Interior, Efkan Ala, asking
questions such as, "Is it true that a camp or camps have been allocated to
an affiliate of ISIS in Istanbul? What is this affiliate? Who is it made up of?
Is the rumor true that the same area allocated for the camp is also used for
military exercises?"

• Kemal
Kiliçdaroglu warned the AKP government not to provide money and training to
terror groups on October 14, 2014. He said, "It isn't right for armed
groups to be trained on Turkish soil. You bring foreign fighters to Turkey, put
money in their pockets, guns in their hands, and you ask them to kill Muslims
in Syria. We told them to stop helping ISIS. Ahmet Davutoglu asked us to show
proof. Everyone knows that they're helping ISIS." (See HERE and HERE.)

• According
to Jordanian intelligence, Turkey trained ISIS militants for special
operations.

Turkey Offers Medical
Care to ISIS Fighters

• An ISIS
commander told the Washington Post on August 12, 2014, "We used to have
some fighters -- even high-level members of the Islamic State -- getting
treated in Turkish hospitals."

• Taraf
reported on October 12, 2014 that Dengir Mir Mehmet Fırat, a founder of the
AKP, said that Turkey supported terrorist groups and still supports them and
treats them in hospitals. "In order to weaken the developments in Rojova
(Syrian Kurdistan), the government gave concessions and arms to extreme
religious groups...the government was helping the wounded. The Minister of
Health said something such as, it's a human obligation to care for the ISIS
wounded."

• According
to Taraf, Ahmet El H, one of the top commanders at ISIS and Al Baghdadi's right
hand man, was treated at a hospital in Sanliurfa, Turkey, along with other ISIS
militants. The Turkish state paid for their treatment. According to Taraf's
sources, ISIS militants are being treated in hospitals all across southeastern
Turkey. More and more militants have been coming in to be treated since the
start of airstrikes in August. To be more specific, eight ISIS militants were
transported through the Sanliurfa border crossing; these are their names:
"Mustafa A., Yusuf El R., Mustafa H., Halil El M., Muhammet El H., Ahmet
El S., Hasan H., [and] Salim El D."

Turkey Supports ISIS
Financially Through Purchase of Oil

• On
September 13, 2014, The New York Times reported on the Obama administration's
efforts to pressure Turkey to crack down on ISIS extensive sales network for
oil. James Phillips, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, argues that
Turkey has not fully cracked down on ISIS's sales network because it benefits
from a lower price for oil, and that there might even be Turks and government
officials who benefit from the trade.

• Fehim
Taştekin wrote in Radikal on September 13, 2014 about illegal pipelines
transporting oil from Syria to nearby border towns in Turkey. The oil is sold
for as little as 1.25 liras per liter. Taştekin indicated that many of these
illegal pipelines were dismantled after operating for 3 years, once his article
was published.

• According
to Diken and OdaTV, David Cohen, a Justice Department official, says that there
are Turkish individuals acting as middlemen to help sell ISIS's oil through
Turkey.

• On October
14, 2014, a German Parliamentarian from the Green Party accused Turkey of
allowing the transportation of arms to ISIS over its territory, as well as the
sale of oil.

Turkey Assists ISIS
Recruitment

• Kemal
Kiliçdaroğlu claimed on October 14, 2014 that ISIS offices in Istanbul and
Gaziantep are used to recruit fighters. On October 10, 2014, the mufti of Konya
said that 100 people from Konya joined ISIS 4 days ago. (See HERE and HERE.)

• OdaTV
reports that Takva Haber serves as a propaganda outlet for ISIS to recruit
Turkish-speaking individuals in Turkey and Germany. The address where this
propaganda website is registered corresponds to the address of a school called
Irfan Koleji, which was established by Ilim Yayma Vakfi, a foundation that was
created by Erdogan and Davutoglu, among others. It is thus claimed that the
propaganda site is operated from the school of the foundation started by AKP
members.

• Minister of
Sports, Suat Kilic, an AKP member, visited Salafi jihadists who are ISIS
supporters in Germany. The group is known for reaching out to supporters via
free Quran distributions and raising funds to sponsor suicide attacks in Syria
and Iraq by raising money.

• On October
7, 2014, IBDA-C, a militant Islamic organization in Turkey, pledged support to
ISIS. A Turkish friend who is a commander in ISIS suggests that Turkey is
"involved in all of this" and that "10,000 ISIS members will
come to Turkey." A Huda-Par member at the meeting claims that officials
criticize ISIS but in fact sympathize with the group (Huda-Par, the "Free
Cause Party", is a Kurdish Sunni fundamentalist political party). BBP
member claims that National Action Party (MHP) officials are close to embracing
ISIS. In the meeting, it is asserted that ISIS militants come to Turkey
frequently to rest, as though they are taking a break from military service. They
claim that Turkey will experience an Islamic revolution, and Turks should be
ready for jihad. (See HERE and HERE.)

• Seymour
Hersh maintains in the London Review of Books that ISIS conducted sarin attacks
in Syria, and that Turkey was informed. "For months there had been acute
concern among senior military leaders and the intelligence community about the
role in the war of Syria's neighbors, especially Turkey. Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan was known to be supporting the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist faction among
the rebel opposition, as well as other Islamist rebel groups. 'We knew there
were some in the Turkish government,' a former senior US intelligence official,
who has access to current intelligence, told me, 'who believed they could get
Assad's nuts in a vice by dabbling with a sarin attack inside Syria - and
forcing Obama to make good on his red line threat."

• On
September 20, 2014, Demir Celik, a Member of Parliament with the people's
democratic party (HDP) claimed that Turkish Special Forces fight with ISIS.

Turkey Helped ISIS in
Battle for Kobani

• Anwar
Moslem, Mayor of Kobani, said on September 19, 2014: "Based on the
intelligence we got two days before the breakout of the current war, trains
full of forces and ammunition, which were passing by north of Kobane, had
an-hour-and-ten-to-twenty-minute-long stops in these villages: Salib Qaran,
Gire Sor, Moshrefat Ezzo. There are evidences, witnesses, and videos about
this. Why is ISIS strong only in Kobane's east? Why is it not strong either in
its south or west? Since these trains stopped in villages located in the east
of Kobane, we guess they had brought ammunition and additional force for the
ISIS." In the second article on September 30, 2014, a CHP delegation
visited Kobani, where locals claimed that everything from the clothes ISIS
militants wear to their guns comes from Turkey. (See HERE and HERE.)

• Released by
Nuhaber, a video shows Turkish military convoys carrying tanks and ammunition
moving freely under ISIS flags in the Cerablus region and Karkamis border
crossing (September 25, 2014). There are writings in Turkish on the trucks.

• Salih
Muslim, PYD head, claims that 120 militants crossed into Syria from Turkey
between October 20th and 24th, 2014.

• According
to an op-ed written by a YPG commander in The New York Times on October 29,
2014, Turkey allows ISIS militants and their equipment to pass freely over the
border.

• Diken
reported, "ISIS fighters crossed the border from Turkey into Syria, over
the Turkish train tracks that delineate the border, in full view of Turkish
soldiers. They were met there by PYD fighters and stopped."

• A Kurdish
commander in Kobani claims that ISIS militants have Turkish entry stamps on
their passports.

• Kurds
trying to join the battle in Kobani are turned away by Turkish police at the
Turkey-Syrian border.

• OdaTV
released a photograph of a Turkish soldier befriending ISIS militants.

• According
to the Hurriyet Daily News on September 26, 2014, "The feelings of the
AKP's heavyweights are not limited to Ankara. I was shocked to hear words of
admiration for ISIL from some high-level civil servants even in Şanliurfa.
'They are like us, fighting against seven great powers in the War of
Independence,' one said." "Rather than the [Kurdistan Workers' Party]
PKK on the other side, I would rather have ISIL as a neighbor," said
another."

• Cengiz
Candar, a well-respected Turkish journalist, maintained that MIT helped
"midwife" the Islamic state in Iraq and Syria, as well as other
Jihadi groups.

• An AKP
council member posted on his Facebook page: "Thankfully ISIS exists... May
you never run out of ammunition..."

“We are not “at war”. Isis can massacre our innocents, but
it is not invading us. Isis is not about to capture Paris or London – as we and
the Americans captured Baghdad and Mosul in 2003. No. What Isis intends to do
is to persuade us to destroy ourselves. Isis wants us to hate our Muslim
minorities. It wants civil war in France between the elite and its
disenfranchised Muslims, most of them of Algerian origin. It wants the Belgians
to hate their Muslims. It wants us Brits to hate our Muslims. Isis must have
been outraged by the thousands of fine Europeans who welcomed with love the
million Muslim refugees who reached Germany. The Muslims should have been
heading towards the new Caliphate – not running away from it. So now it wishes
to turn us against the refugees.

Isis was quick to understand a truth the West must now
confront

To achieve this, it must implicate hundreds of thousands of
innocent Muslim refugees in its atrocities. It must force our EU nations to
introduce States of Emergency, suspend civil liberties, raid the homes of
Muslims. It wishes to destroy the European Union itself. It wishes to strike at
the heart of the European ideal by liquidating the very foundation of the
union: by persuading us to tear up the Schengen agreement and to close our
frontiers. And we are doing exactly that. Are we, in some auto-panic, actually
working for Isis? If that gruesome institution did not ban alcohol, their
members would be toasting with champagne our political leaders for their
vacuity, their sophistry, the abject fear with which they now regularly try to
inject us under the dangerous old cry of “Unify the nation”.”

Sunday, November 29, 2015

The BBC reports that clashes between riot police and
migrants angry at being prevented from entering Macedonia from Greece have left
up to 40 people injured. Macedonian soldiers raised a new fence on the southern
border with Greece on Saturday to manage the migrants. Dozens of migrants,
stuck in Greece after Balkan countries imposed tougher entry conditions, threw
stones. Macedonian police briefly entered Greece and fired stun grenades on the
rioters. Many of those refused entry to Macedonia from Greece are from Iran,
Pakistan and Morocco.

Refugee children are drowning between Turkey and the Greek
islands, yet still no progress has been made on the introduction of safe and
legal routes to Europe, such as humanitarian evacuation and visa programmes. As
the winter weather intensifies, it seems likely that growing numbers of
refugees and asylum seekers will be trapped behind the borders of states that
are determined to obstruct their arrival. Unable to move on and unwilling to
return, what solutions can be found for these stranded populations?

Whatever hope was sparked for a formula to deal with the
refugee crisis in a humane manner ended with the Paris terrorist attacks that
engendered a hysteria against refugees. A consequence has been to reinforce the
perception that there are ‘good refugees’ and ‘bad migrants’, and that a simple
distinction can be made between these two groups on the basis of a simple and
single criterion, namely country of origin. Germany, Sweden and Austria, have
reinstituted border controls Denmark has reneged on its pledge to accept 1,000
Syrians. French Premier Valls has stated unequivocally that
France has reached its limit in agreeing to accept 30,000 Syrian refugees. France
has established checkpoints along major routes to Belgium and on some
cross-border trains. France has also pushed for other member states to ramp up
border controls and called for more security screening at the EU’s frontiers. In
the political capitals of Budapest, Warsaw, Bratislava and Prague assigned
quotas are rejected outright with planned challenges in European Court of
Justice. Meanwhile, border fences are
going up along the main refugee transit routes: in Austria, Macedonia, Serbia,
Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The EU are failing to
provide alternative solutions to the region’s refugee emergency. While Germany
and Sweden have admitted a highly disproportionate number of the new arrivals,
other countries have expressed very little interest in region-wide refugee
resettlement and relocation programmes.

The fearful atmosphere created by the terrorist attacks of
November 13 have all European governments “running scared.” Unrestricted
movement within the EU for whomever has managed to gain entry is increasingly
seen by national authorities as too risky in the current terror threat
environment. Racist and xenophobic politicians and media feed those anxieties. Most
European governments face what can be called “populist movements”, i.e. nationalist
movements that demand more sovereignty for their own countries. The arrival of refugees
could not come at a worst moment.

Passport checks. Visa controls. Border fences. Electronic
and drone surveillance. Sanctions on airlines and shipping companies. And the
interdiction and redirection of boats at sea. During the past three decades,
the world’s more prosperous states have introduced a panoply of measures
intended to prevent and deter the arrival of asylum seekers and migrants from
other parts of the globe. Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia have adopted
a new tactic in an effort to limit the number of people who are making their
way through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans towards Austria and Germany. The
policy allows entry to arrivals from the war-torn countries of Afghanistan,
Iraq and Syria, while barring the admission of people from states such as
Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Sudan, where levels of violence and
human rights abuses appear to be lower. Any suggestion that none of these
people has a valid claim to refugee status clearly cannot be sustained. In the
second quarter of 2015, for example, the average EU recognition rate for
Iranian asylum seekers was 67 percent, 58 percent for Sudanese and 28 percent
for Pakistanis and Sri Lankans. The result has been to add a new degree of
chaos to an already fraught situation. There is also a very significant risk
that people whose lives and liberty are at risk in their country of origin will
be denied the protection they need, and to which they are entitled under
international refugee law. According to the latest statistics, just under a
quarter of all the recent arrivals in Europe come from countries other than
Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Unable to continue with their intended journey,
asylum seekers not from the three designated countries have found themselves
trapped in border areas, forced to sleep in the open in freezing temperatures
or in makeshift camps.

Tensions have inevitably erupted between the different
refugee groups, with some of those whose onward passage has been barred
resorting to demonstrations, hunger strikes and other forms of self-harm. At
the same time, the closure of borders to certain nationalities has created more
demand for the services of human smugglers, who have been able to increase the
charges they impose on asylum seekers who are desperate to continue their
journey. At the same time, growing numbers of asylum seekers are said to be
making false representations about their nationality in an effort to ensure
they are not trapped at the border of the Balkan states. As a result, the
integrity of the international refugee protection system is unwittingly being
undermined.

Climate change means more droughts, floods, heatwaves and other
severe weather conditions. These events can cause death and devastation, and
can also contribute to the increased spread of major killers of children, such
as malnutrition, malaria and diarrhoea. This can create a vicious circle: A
child deprived of adequate water and sanitation before a crisis will be more
affected by a flood, drought, or severe storm, less likely to recover quickly,
and at even greater risk when faced with a subsequent crisis.

More than half a billion children live in areas with
extremely high flood occurrence and 160 million in high drought severity zones,
leaving them highly exposed to the impacts of climate change, UNICEF said in a
report.

Of the 530 million children in the flood-prone zones, some
300 million live in countries where more than half the population lives in
poverty – on less than $3.10 a day. Of those living in high drought severity
areas, 50 million are in countries where more than half the population lives in
poverty.

The vast majority of the children living in areas at
extremely high risk of floods are in Asia, and the majority of those in areas
at risk of drought are in Africa.

"The sheer numbers underline the urgency of acting
now," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. "Today's children
are the least responsible for climate change, but they, and their children, are
the ones who will live with its consequences. And, as is so often the case,
disadvantaged communities face the gravest threat." He then added “We owe
it to our children – and to the planet – to make the right decisions at
COP21."

The World Socialist Movement with a heavy heart predicts
that he and many others will be disappointed by the outcome of the Paris
climate change talks. The tens of thousands who turned out for climate change
marches as part of a weekend of action across the globe to demand results from
next week's historic Paris summit, we fear, will also find their hopes dashed. Whatever
happens next is somewhat speculative, because it depends on incalculable
factors in the Earth’s system – and in the human character. Our ultimate
survival will be predicated entirely on our behaviour – not only on how well we
adapt to unavoidable change, but also how quickly we apply the brakes to the environmental
destruction taking place. Despite fears that a rise in global temperatures of
over two degrees Celsius could lead to catastrophic climate change, governments
around the world continue to follow a ‘business as usual’ approach, pouring
millions into dirty industries and unsustainable ventures that are heating the
planet. Temperatures, which are rising as a result of climate change, are
expected to cause savage reductions in productivity in vast areas of the
world’s most fertile lands. During the 2003 European heatwave crop yields fell
by 20 to 25 per cent in France and this is a pattern likely to be repeated on a
much wider scale in the future. Climate change could decrease maize yields by
as much as 18 per cent by 2050-making it even more difficult to feed the world
if farmers cannot adopt agricultural technologies that could help boost food
production in their regions. The socialists task is to feed the world and
protect the planet. Karl Marx was scathing of the capitalist economic notion
that the air, rivers, seas and soil can be treated as a "free gift of
nature" to business. "In
London," Marx wrote "they can find no better use for the excretion of
four and a half million human beings than to contaminate the Thames with it at
heavy expense"

Saving the planet is inextricably linked to transforming our
society. Exploitation, war, hunger and poverty are not problems that can be
solved by the market system. Rather, they are inescapable outcomes of the
system itself. This is because capitalism is dominated by corporations devoted
to profit above all else. Capitalism is an economic system profoundly at odds
with a sustainable planet. The exploitation of nature is as fundamental to the
profit system as the exploitation of working people. The market system is
incapable of preserving the environment for future generations because it
cannot take into account the long-term requirements of people and planet. The
competition between individual enterprises and industries to make a profitable
return on their investment tends to exclude rational and sustainable planning.
Because capitalism promotes the accumulation of capital on a never-ending and
always expanding scale it cannot be sustainable. Capitalist farming is
unsustainable because it inevitably starves the soil of nutrients. It is
nothing less than "an art, not only of robbing the labourer, but of
robbing the soil" as Marx also pointed out. Engels put it: “The present
poisoning of the air, water and land can only be put an end to by the fusion of
town and country” under “one single vast plan.” Despite its potential cost to
society in terms of increased labour time, he viewed this fusion as “no more
and no less utopian than the abolition of the antithesis between capitalist and
wage-workers.”

Engels warned, "Let us not, however, flatter ourselves
overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each victory nature
takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings
about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite
different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel out the first."
Engels added: "At every step we are reminded that we by no means rule over
nature like a conqueror over a foreign people, like someone standing outside of
nature." On the other hand, he went on to say "we have the advantage
of all other creatures of being able to learn its laws and apply them
correctly."

That is, we can
organise society in harmony with nature. This is impossible unless the profit
motive is removed from determining production in human society and a system of
participatory democracy and rational planning is built in its stead. Engels
argued that only the working people organised as "associated
producers" can "govern the human metabolism with nature in a rational
way". This "requires something more than mere knowledge. It requires
a complete revolution in our hitherto existing mode of production, and
simultaneously a revolution in our whole contemporary social order."

The text of the leaflet for distribution at the climate change demonstration in London on Sunday 29 November:

That’s the most that will ever be done under capitalism
about the problems that global warming will bring.

The way the capitalist system works rules out the effective
action at world level that is needed to begin tackling the problem. It even
encourages economic activities that contribute to it.

Capitalism is based on production being controlled by
profit-seeking enterprises which, supported by governments, compete on the
market to buy resources and sell products. This competitive pursuit of profits
is the essence of capitalism. It’s what capitalism is all about and what
prevents any effective action to deal with climate change.

Nobody can deny that global warming is taking place. Nor
that, if it continues unchecked, it would have disastrous consequences – such
as rising sea-levels and increased desertification – through its effects on the
climates of the different parts of the world. There can only be argument over
what is causing it. Most scientists in the field take the view that it has
mainly been caused by the increase in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere largely as a result of the burning of the fossil fuels, coal, oil
and gas.

If this is the case, then one part of any solution has to be
cut back on burning these fuels. But this is not happening. In fact, on a world
scale, their use is increasing. This is because this is currently the cheapest
way of generating the energy to drive industry – and the logic of capitalism
compels the profit-seeking enterprises that control production to use the
cheapest methods. If they don’t, their competitors will.

What is the solution? First, the competitive struggle for
profits as the basis for production must be ended. This requires that the
Earth’s natural and industrial resources become the common heritage of all
humanity. On this basis, and on this basis alone, can an effective programme to
deal with the problem be drawn up and implemented, because production would
then be geared to serving human interests and no longer to make a profit for
competing enterprises.

There will be those who say that we haven’t the time to wait
for the coming into being of this, in their view, unlikely or long-distant
solution, and that we must therefore do something now. In this age of apathy
and cynicism when any large-scale change is dismissed, this may seem a
plausible argument but it begs the question. It assumes that a solution can be
implemented within capitalism. But if it can’t (as Socialists maintain), then
concentrating on something now rather than on changing the basis of society and
production will be a waste of valuable time while the situation gets worse.

There will be two assembly points where comrades can meet up to distribute this leaflet. At 12 noon by the statue of Achilles sited in Hyde Park at the south-western end of Park Lane and at 3pm at the north (Millbank) end of Lambeth Bridge. Please do your utmost to assist other comrades who have already volunteered to be in evidence at this protest.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Two days from now, world leaders will converge in Paris,
France for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Much of the world is hopeful
that some solution will come out of the talks. Members of the World Socialist
Movement are unable to share in those hopes. Capitalism continues and for fossil
fuel companies it is very much business as usual. Corporations only seek to
maximise profits at the expense of the planet. We cannot solve this crisis
through the capitalist system.

We can only globally resolve the issue of climate change with
a complete change our economic system from one of competition to one of
cooperation. The
scientists and engineers of the world have the solutions but there is not the
political will to implement the necessary changes. We need a system of planned
economy and no longer subject ourselves to the whims of the market.

Our hopes cannot lie in political leaders to save us or that
the capitalist class will mend their ways and end the environmental destruction
of the planet. Our hope lies in ourselves. We have the power and the skills to organise
society in a sustainable way. We need a socialist system that utilises the
world’s resources to sustain and improve the lives for everyone on the planet. We
need to demand “System Change, Not Climate Change!” To transform the capitalist
system is a massive challenge yet it is one we must face if humanity is to
survive.

Panchayats, or village councils, are elected bodies at the
most local level in India. Eighteen in the immediate vicinity of the
Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehdiganj in Varanasi district have come together
to demand that the groundwater used by Coca-Cola be stopped immediately due to
the growing water crisis in the area. They are located within a 5-km radius of
the Coca-Cola plant and villagers have experienced water shortages soon after
Coca-Cola began operations in 1999. The area surrounding the bottling plant is
largely agrarian, and relies on groundwater to meet most of its needs,
including drinking, irrigation, cleaning and for livestock. Coca-Cola also uses
the same common groundwater source to meet its production needs, placing its
groundwater use in direct competition with the community in an area running
short of water.

Government data has confirmed sharp drops in groundwater
level in the area. The area’s groundwater was declared as “over-exploited” by
the government just last year. Over-exploited is the worst category possible
and implies that more water is being extracted than being recharged, and many
restrictions on the use of groundwater by the community and farmers are put
into place. The village councils note that it is not acceptable that Coca-Cola
continues to extract groundwater for profit while everyone faces a water crisis
in the area. The letter also notes that children, women, farmers, the poor and
livestock are affected the most from the growing water crisis.

“Elected village council heads represent the voice of the
people, and they are clear that Coca-Cola is not welcome in Mehdiganj. It is
time for Coca-Cola to pack up and leave,” said Amit Srivastava of the India
Resource Center, an international campaigning organization. “Coca-Cola paints a
pretty picture of itself internationally as a responsible user of water but the
reality in India is that it exploits groundwater at the expense of the poor,
the women, children, farmers and livestock who have to live with less water
because Coca-Cola mines groundwater in a water scarce area for profit,”
Srivastava said.

France, the UK and also Germany intend to ratchet up military
activity in Syria, purportedly to attack ISIS, although the previous time
Cameron went to Parliament for its approval to bomb, the purpose was regime change to remove
Assad, ISIS was not the target.

Although Corbyn may oppose
this military venture, it seems many of his Labour Party colleagues sitting in
the House of Commons and in his Shadow Cabinet will not follow his example and will most likely vote with the Tories.

Dennis
Skinner, however, in support of Corbyn’s position ,explained:

“Is it not essential in any prelude to a war to be sure of
our allies and to be sure of the objectives? Is it not a fact that Turkey has
been buying oil from ISIL? They used Turkey’s trucks to store it. Turkey has
been bombing the Kurds, and the Kurds are fighting ISIL. Turkey shot down a
Russian jet, even though Russia wants to fight ISIL. The Prime Minister has the
objective of getting rid of Assad. A Russian ally has the opposite objective.
What a crazy war—enemies to the right of us, enemies to the left of us. Keep
out.”

Thursday, November 26, 2015

From November 30 to December 11, delegates from more than
190 nations will convene in Paris to address the threat of climate change. The
21st Conference of the Parties (aka COP21) is expected to draw 25,000 official
delegates intent on crafting a legally binding pact to keep global warming
below 2°C.

The American military occupies 6,000 bases in the US and
more than 1,000 bases (the exact number is disputed) in 60-plus foreign
countries. According to its FY 2010 Base Structure Report, the Pentagon's
global empire includes more than 539,000 facilities at 5,000 sites covering
more than 28 million acres.

The Pentagon admits to burning 350,000 barrels of oil a day
(only 35 countries in the world consume more) but that doesn't include oil
burned by contractors and weapons suppliers. The military fuel is required for
more than 28,000 armored vehicles, thousands of helicopters, hundreds of jet
fighters and bombers and vast fleets of Navy vessels. The Air Force accounts
for about half of the Pentagon’s operational energy consumption, followed by
the Navy (33%) and Army (15%). In 2012, oil accounted for nearly 80% of the
Pentagon's energy consumption, followed by electricity, natural gas and coal. Today,
the Pentagon consumes one percent of all the country's oil and around 80
percent of all the oil burned by federal government.

Ironically, most of the military's oil is consumed in
operations directed at protecting America's access to foreign oil and maritime
shipping lanes. In short, the consumption of oil relies on consuming more oil. Oil
Change International estimates the Pentagon's 2003-2007 $2 trillion Iraq War
generated more than three million metric tons of CO2 pollution per month.

Despite being the planet's single greatest institutional
consumer of fossil fuels, the Department of Defense was granted exemption from
reducing—or even reporting—its pollution. The US won this prize during the 1998
Kyoto Protocol negotiations (COP4) after the Pentagon insisted on a
"national security provision" that would place its operations beyond
global scrutiny or control. Also
exempted from pollution regulation: all American weapons testing, military
exercises, NATO operations and "peacekeeping" missions.

With socialism we hope to stabilise our climate and by ending
war and all those preparations for war socialism will offer the start of a rational resolution of
our environmental problems.

Europe’s defense industry is set to reap a $50 billion
windfall as the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks on Paris prompt governments to ramp
up spending on military capabilities spanning cyber security to fighter jets,
armored vehicles and drones in an effort to defeat Islamic State.

France, where Dassault Aviation SA’s Rafale fighter jet is
made, has halted plans to cut almost 10,000 military personnel, while Germany
will spend an extra 8 billion euros ($8.5 billion) on defense and Britain has
earmarked a further 12 billion pounds ($18 billion), benefiting companies
including BAE Systems Plc. Italy said Tuesday it would devote 1 billion euros
more to security, after the draft budget called for 2 billion euros of
reductions.

European governments are rethinking their defense policies
after years of cuts tied to the draw down in Afghanistan and Iraq and austerity
programs imposed after the global slump. The spending commitments will swell
budgets that had already begun to revive amid heightened tensions with Russia
following last year’s annexation of Crimea, with Britain committing in August
to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense.

“Over the 2015-2019 period, an extra $50 billion will be
added to Western European defense spending as a result of changes implemented
this year,” said Fenella McGerty, senior analyst for defense budgets at IHS
Jane’s. There’ll be an $11 billion annual uplift by the end of the period, she
said, driven by adjustments in France, Germany and the U.K. that began with the
Jan. 7 assault on the Paris offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Cameron confirmed in Monday’s defense statement that Royal
Air Force Eurofighters, built by BAE, will get enhanced ground-attack
capability, allowing them to play a more active role, and a 10-year life
extension that will effectively create two extra squadrons.

F-35 Acceleration

Britain will also take all 138 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35
fighters initially ordered and triple the pace of deliveries to 2023, allowing
deployment of two new aircraft carriers with a full roster of planes. BAE is an
F-35 partner and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc helps make the engines, as it does on
Eurofighter.

Cameron also reiterated a commitment to an Anglo-French
venture for the development of military drones. Under an agreement signed last
year, BAE and Rolls-Royce are working with France’s Dassault, Selex ES Ltd.,
Thales SA and Safran SA on a model along the lines of General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems Inc.’s Predator. Thales also has a 25 percent stake in the
Rafale.

Airbus Group SE will offer surveillance and reconnaissance
upgrades to its A400M military transport and A330 airborne tanker models,
providing operators with a “cheap and simple” option for boosting intelligence
gathering, according to Fernando Alonso, head of its military aircraft arm.

Germany’s Defense Ministry said in June it would purchase
the proposed European-led air-defense system known as MEADS and opened bids for
a new multi-purpose combat ships as part of a force modernization. Asymmetric
military campaigns would require smaller caliber ammunition, with shares of
German armaments specialist Rheinmetall AG up more than 8 percent since the
Paris attacks. Sweden’s Saab AB won an order Tuesday to supply hand-held
rocket-launchers to the Austrian armed forces starting next year.

Britain will devote 1.9 billion pounds over five years to
countering Islamic State’s use of the Internet for planning, propaganda and
online attacks, creating a specialist task force to track its communications. Shares
of Qinetiq Group Plc rose 10 percent Nov. 19 after the former U.K.
defense-research laboratory said it was experiencing higher demand for cyber,
surveillance and security sensors. U.S. companies also stand to benefit from
Europe’s rearmament, with two of three major new spending commitments announced
by Cameron involving trans-Atlantic deals. Boeing Co. won a contract for nine
P8 torpedo-fitted maritime patrol aircraft, and 600 Scout armored vehicles
built by General Dynamics Corp. will form the core of new “Strike Brigades” due
by 2025.

Somehow that 'peace dividend' never quite gets round to arriving, does it?...

Thanksgiving approaches and throughout the U.S. a fairy-tale
is re-told. It goes a little something like this:

“Pilgrims came to America, in order to escape religious
persecution in England. Living conditions proved difficult in the New World,
but thanks to the friendly Indian, Squanto, the pilgrims learned to grow corn,
and survive in unfamiliar lands. It wasn't long before the Indians and the
pilgrims became good friends. To celebrate their friendship and abundant
harvest, Indians in feathered headbands joined together with the pilgrims and
shared in a friendly feast of turkey and togetherness. Happy Thanksgiving. The
End.”

Following the bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln
declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Back then, Americans were
desperately in need of unity and inspiration. Hence, the myth of the first Thanksgiving
was born.

The actual story is very much different.

“One day, the Wampanoag people of the Eastern coast of the
Americas noticed unfamiliar people in their homelands. These unfamiliar people were
English pilgrims, coming to a new land which they dubbed "America,"
in order to settle and create a new life.

The Wampanoag were initially uneasy with the settlers, but
they eventually engaged in a shaky relationship of commerce and exchange. Also,
in observing that the pilgrims nearly died from a harsh winter, the Wampanoag
stepped in to help.

The Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, eventually entered into
agreements with the pilgrims, and, on behalf of the Wampanoag Nation, decided
to be allies while each nation coexisted in the same space together. At one
time, the Wampanoag and pilgrims shared in a meal of wildfowl, deer, and
shellfish.

After Massasoit's death, the Wampanoag nation became
weakened as a result of disease contracted from the English. It wasn't long
before the pilgrims began tormenting surrounding tribes, burning entire
villages to the ground, while indigenous men, women, and children lie sleeping.

Uneasy with the growing cruelty, greed, and arrogance of the
new people in their homelands, the Wampanoag began to distrust the pilgrims.
The pilgrims soon demanded that the Wampanoag submit to them, and give up all
their weapons.

Shortly after, the pilgrims and Wampanoag were at war, and
in the end, the pilgrims rose victorious. At the close of the war, the
Wampanoag were nearly decimated, and the son of Chief Massasoit, Metacom, was
killed by the pilgrims, dismembered, beheaded, and his head impaled on a spear
outside of Plymouth. Metacom's young son was sent to the West Indies as a
slave, along with numerous other Wampanoag and surrounding tribes. A day of
Thanksgiving was declared, and to celebrate, the pilgrims kicked the heads of
dead indigenous peoples around like soccer balls.

As indigenous nations throughout America were continually
betrayed by European settlers, killed by disease, germ warfare, hunted for
bounties, sent overseas as slaves, and ultimately pushed out of their homelands
and onto prison camps (now commonly known as reservations), few survived the
depressing conditions. As a result of centuries of historical trauma,
indigenous nations today have staggering rates of depression, mental health
disparities, suicide, and deaths due to alcohol and drugs. Indigenous people
continue to struggle to cope with historical trauma, and heal deeply imbedded
wounds which stem directly from colonialism. This, still, is not the end.”

The Thanksgiving myth breeds ignorance and reinforces
bigotry. It is time to embrace truth. The mythical version of Thanksgiving
creates a fairy-tale of land-grab, betrayal, brutality and genocide.

British Foreign Minster Philip Hammond has said that weapons
exports to Saudi Arabia would be halted if investigations prove that Riyadh is
breaching international humanitarian law during its ongoing aggression against
Yemen.

Saudi Arabia used British-made cruise missiles during an
attack on a civilian Yemeni factory, Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch have revealed.

"The attack on the factory in the Sana’a governorate,
which appeared to be producing only civilian goods, killed one person, and was
in apparent violation of international humanitarian law," read a HumanRights Watch statement. “The latest revelations show UK policy to be both
misleading and seriously ineffective. Despite multiple, well-documented cases
of violations of the laws of war by the Persian Gulf coalition in Yemen, UK
ministers have consistently refused to acknowledge this,” said UK Director at
Human Rights Watch David Mepham.

Ireland has one of
the highest levels of children at risk of poverty in Europe. That is according
to Eurostat figures which show that a third of children here are at risk
compared with the EU average of 28%.

Meanwhile, new research from Barnardos revealed that one in
six children in Ireland is living in a household that suffers food poverty.

Children from the poorest households were found to be twice
as likely to have a low birth weight as those in the wealthiest households.

The study also found that children’s maths and reading
scores increase by 4% for every 1% more their parents earn.

Barnardos CEO, Fergus Finlay, said a century after the 1916
Rising, Ireland had failed to honour the pledge to cherish all the children of
the nation equally.

“Our research reveals those in the poorest households spend
seven times more of their disposable income on fuel and light than those in the
wealthiest households; one in six children is now living in a household
experiencing food poverty and households with children are 89% more likely to
be in rent or mortgage arrears than those without”.

The lofty goals, hopes and expectations of well-meaning
humans will probably end up in frustration and failure. Hell on Earth will continue
to escalate. As the world’s best and greatest thinkers convene in Paris to
discuss yet again the solution to climate change they will reflect the same
skewed economic and political priorities that has virtually brought the planet
to its knees.

What nations have put on the table so far in terms of
pledges for both emissions cuts and finance "is not enough" to
protect poor people from climate change, said Oxfam executive director Winnie
Byanyima. The world's 3.5 billion poorest people, who are already facing
unpredictable floods, droughts, and hunger, have the most at stake in Paris, an
Oxfam report states. And the World Bank warns that human-caused climate change
could push more than 100 million people into extreme poverty within just 15
years.

Capitalism offers no vision of hope or any tangible
solution. Our problem is not the numbers of people but the capitalist system
itself.

All over the world people are protesting but now they must not
only oppose but propose. They must demand a rationally planned sane society
called socialism.

The US military which refused independent investigation of
the attack upon an Afghan hospital , "investigates" itself, and finds
it was all just a dreadful mistake. We, the Pentagon Jury, find ourselves NOT GUILTY of deliberately
targeting a MSF hospital.

No surprise there then, is there?

A few low-level military personnel get a good finger-wagging
and their wrists slapped and the mainstream
media accepts, without question, the same old cliches:

'human error'

'Mistakes were made'

'Fog of War'

'Collateral damage'

'We're good, they're evil'

It is, of course, better to be viewed as a bit incompetent than to be seen as committing a war
crime.

MSF gave a lukewarm
reception to the findings. Christopher Stokes, its general director, said: “The
US version of events presented today leaves MSF with more questions than
answers. It is shocking that an attack can be carried out when US forces have
neither eyes on a target nor access to a no-strike list, and have malfunctioning
communications systems. Kunduz hospital patients 'burned in beds … even wars
have rules', says MSF chief “It appears
that 30 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people are denied
life-saving care in Kunduz simply because the MSF hospital was the closest
large building to an open field and ‘roughly matched’ a description of an intended
target.” He added: “The frightening catalogue of errors outlined today
illustrates gross negligence on the part of US forces and violations of the
rules of war. The destruction of a protected facility without verifying the
target – in this case a functioning hospital full of medical staff and patients
– cannot only be dismissed as individual human error or breaches of the US
rules of engagement. MSF reiterates its call for an independent and impartial
investigation into the attack on our hospital in Kunduz. Investigations of this
incident cannot be left solely to parties to the conflict in Afghanistan.”

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The Media Committee is currently sending out the following media release to national media, trade unions & etc.

Restrictions on Trade Unions are ‘act of class war against working people’

As UK government plans to clamp down on trade union rights wait for a second reading in the House of Lords, the Socialist Party yesterday warned they are “an act of class war by the forces of organised capital, aimed against the ability of working people to defend or extend the standards of living of themselves and their families.”

Media spokesperson Robert Cox said: “Workers cannot rely on the House of Lords to stop this legislation. They need to stand together and fight to defeat it themselves. The strike vote by 98% of junior doctors on a 76% turnout shows the way forward.”

In a statement agreed by their Executive Committee, Socialists pointed out that “by seeking to impose minimum turn-out requirements beyond anything required of elected politicians,” this “exposes the truth” that the governments job is “to work for and on behalf of the British capitalist class” using the law to aim “to prevent workers from organising, democratically and peacefully”.

While the Socialist Party made clear that it “stands in absolute solidarity with the workers”, it warned that industrial action can only win limited benefits which are “under constant threat of being taken back.”

“The only hope of establishing for all time a good standard of living for all mankind depends on bringing an end to the political and economic control of society by the “one-percent” and in its place the establishment of a world in which all wealth is owned and shared in common by all its people. We call upon all workers to unite to bring this about as soon as possible”, the statement concluded.

The Trade Union Bill 2015 - Statement of the Executive Committee of the SPGB:

“The Trade Union Bill currently before Parliament represents an act of class war by the forces of organised capital, aimed against the ability of working people to defend or extend the standards of living of themselves and their families.

By seeking to impose minimum turn-out requirements beyond anything required of elected politicians, and forcing agency workers to become strike breakers, this bill exposes the truth of the nature of the state. Far from being an institution representative of the people, the clear purpose of Government is to work for and on behalf of the British capitalist class. In this case by taking further legal measures to prevent workers from organising, democratically and peacefully, to restrain the efforts of their employers to reduce employment costs to an absolute minimum, thereby increasing the profits of their shareholders directly or, by cuts to government spending, indirectly through the reduction of tax on their profits.

The Socialist Party of Great Britain stands in absolute solidarity with the workers of all countries in their efforts to achieve better conditions of employment. However workers should realise that, under the market system for their bosses increasing profits must come before all other considerations. Any material gains made through workers day-to-day struggle will therefore be limited and under constant threat of being taken back. The only hope of establishing for all time a good standard of living for all mankind depends on bringing an end to the political and economic control of society by the “one-percent” and in its place the establishment of a world in which all wealth is owned and shared in common by all its people. We call upon all workers to unite to bring this about as soon as possible.”